The ''Struma'' disaster was the sinking on 24 February 1942 of a ship, , which had been trying to take nearly 800 Jewish refugees from the

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member

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. She was a small iron-hulled ship of only and had been built in 1867 as a steam-powered

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

but had recently been re-engined with an unreliable second-hand

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

. ''Struma'' was only long, had a beam of only and a draught of only but an estimated 781 refugees and 10 crew were crammed into her. ''Struma''s diesel engine failed several times between her departure from

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

on 12 December 1941 and her arrival in

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on 15 December. She had to be towed by a tug boat to leave Constanța and to enter Istanbul. On 23 February 1942, with her engine still inoperative and her refugee passengers aboard, Turkish authorities towed ''Struma'' from Istanbul through the

Bosporus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

out to the coast of

Şile Şile is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 800 km2, and its population is 43,464 (2022). Bordering Şile is the province of Kocaeli Province, Kocaeli (districts of G ...

, in North Istanbul. Within hours, on the morning of 24 February, the torpedoed her, killing 781 refugees and 10 crew, which made it the Black Sea's largest exclusively-civilian naval disaster of World War II. Until recently, the number of victims had been estimated at 768, but the current figure is the result of a recent study of six different passenger lists. Only one person aboard, the 19-year-old David Stoliar, survived (he died in 2014).

Voyage and detention

''Struma'' had been built as a luxury yacht but was 74 years old. In the 1930s, she had been relegated to carrying cattle on the

Danube River The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

under the

flag of convenience Flag of convenience (FOC) refers to a business practice whereby a ship's owners Ship registration, register a Merchant vessel, merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ens ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. The Mossad LeAliyah Bet intended to use her as a refugee ship but shelved the plan after the Germans had entered

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. Her

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

owner, Jean D. Pandelis, instead contacted Revisionist Zionists in

. The New Zionist Organization and a

Zionist youth movement A Zionist youth movement () is an organization formed for Jewish children and adolescents for educational, social, and ideology, ideological development, including a belief in Zionism, Jewish nationalism as represented in the State of Israel. Yout ...

Betar The Betar Movement (), also spelled Beitar (), is a Revisionist Zionism, Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. It was one of several right-wing youth movements tha ...

, began to make arrangements, but an argument over the choice of passengers left the planning in the hands of Betar. Apart from the crew and 60 Betar youth, there were over 700 passengers, who had paid large fees to board the ship. The exact number is not certain, but a collation of six separate lists produced a total of 791 passengers and 10 crew. Passengers were told they would be sailing on a renovated boat with a short stop in

to collect their

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

immigration visas. Romanian Prime Minister

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc� ...

's government approved of the voyage. Each refugee was allowed to take of luggage. Romanian customs officers took many of the refugees' valuables and other possessions, along with food that they had brought with them. The passengers were not permitted to see the vessel before the day of the voyage. They found that she was a wreck with only two lifeboats. Below decks, ''Struma'' had dormitories with bunks for 40 to 120 people in each. The berths were bunks on which passengers were to sleep four abreast, with a width of for each person. On 12 December 1941, the day of her sailing, ''Struma''s engine failed and so a tug towed her out of the port of

. Since the waters off Constanța were mined, a Romanian vessel escorted her clear of the minefield. She then drifted overnight while her crew tried vainly to start her engine. She transmitted

distress signals Distress may refer to: * Distress (medicine), an aversive state in which a person shows maladaptive behaviors * Mental distress (or psychological distress) * Distress, or distraint, the act of seizing goods to compel payment * ''Distress'' (novel ...

, and on 13 December, the Romanian tug returned. The tug's crew said they would not repair ''Struma''s engine unless it was paid. The refugees had no money after they had bought their tickets and leaving Romania and so they gave all their wedding rings to the tugboatmen, who then repaired the engine. ''Struma'' then got under way, but by 15 December, her engine had failed again and so she was towed into the port of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. There, she remained at anchor, while British diplomats and Turkish officials negotiated over the fate of the passengers. Because of Arab and Jewish unrest in Palestine, the British government was determined to apply the terms of the

White Paper of 1939 The White Paper of 1939Occasionally also known as the MacDonald White Paper (e.g. Caplan, 2015, p.117) after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary, who presided over its creation. was a policy paper issued by the British governmen ...

to minimise Jewish immigration to Palestine. British diplomats urged the Turkish government of

Refik Saydam İbrahim Refik Saydam (8 September 1881 – 8 July 1942) was a Turkish people, Turkish physician, politician and the fourth Prime Minister of Turkey, serving from 25 January 1939 until his death on 8 July 1942.visas that were possessed by a few passengers, who were allowed to continue to Palestine overland. With the help of influential friends ( Vehbi Koc), a few others also managed to escape. One woman, Madeea Solomonovici, was admitted to an Istanbul hospital after she had miscarried. On 12 February, British officials agreed that children from 11 to 16 on the ship would be given Palestinian visas, but a dispute occurred over their transportation to Palestine. According to some researchers, a total of 9 passengers disembarked, and the remaining 782 and 10 crew stayed on the ship. Others believe that there had only been 782 passengers initially, with only Solomonovici being allowed to leave the ship.

Towing to sea and sinking

Negotiations between Turkey and Britain seemed to reach an impasse. On 23 February 1942, a small party from the Turkish police tried to board the ship, but the refugees would not let it aboard. A larger force of about 80 police officers came then surrounded ''Struma'' with motor boats, and after about half an hour of resistance, it boarded the ship. The police detached the ship's anchor and attached her to a tug, which towed her through the Bosporus and out into the Black Sea. As she was towed along the Bosporus, many passengers hung signs over the sides that read "SAVE US" in English and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

that were visible to those who lived on the banks of the strait. Despite weeks of work by Turkish engineers, the engine would not start. Turkish Government denied its entry and the British forbade it from proceeding to Palestine, the unseaworthy vessel was forced to leave harbour. The Turkish authorities abandoned the ship in the Black Sea, about 10 miles north of the Bosporus, where she drifted helplessly. On the morning of 24 February there was a huge explosion, and the ship sank. Many years later it was revealed that the ship had been torpedoed by the , which had also sunk the Turkish vessel ''Çankaya'' the evening before. ''Struma'' sank quickly, and many people were trapped below decks and drowned. Many others aboard survived the sinking and clung to pieces of wreckage, but for hours, no rescue came, and all but one of them died from drowning or

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...

. Of the estimated 791 people killed, more than 100 were children. ''Struma''s First Officer Lazar Dikof and the 19-year-old refugee David Stoliar clung to a cabin door, which was floating in the sea. The First Officer died overnight, but Turks in a rowing boat rescued Stoliar the next day. He was the only survivor. Turkey held Stoliar in custody for many weeks. Simon Brod (1893–1962), a Jewish businessman from Istanbul who during World War II helped to rescue an untold number of Jewish refugees who reached Turkey, arranged for Stoliar's meals during his two-month incarceration. Upon his release, Brod brought Stoliar home. He provided him with clothes, a suitcase and a train ticket to

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

after the British government had given him papers to go to Palestine.

Aftermath

On 9 June 1942, Lord Wedgwood opened the debate in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

by alleging that the British government had reneged on its commitments and urging for the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

mandate over Palestine to be transferred to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He stated with bitterness: "I hope yet to live to see those who sent the ''Struma'' cargo back to the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

hung as high as

Haman Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian empire under King Ahasuerus#Book of Esther, Ahasuerus, comm ...

cheek by jowl with their prototype and ''Führer'',

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

". Anglo-Jewish poet Emanuel Litvinoff, serving in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

at the time, wrote a scathing poem mourning the loss of ''Struma''. Having volunteered in the British Army to fight the Nazis, he called the British uniform he wore a "badge of shame" in response to the incident. For many years, there were competing theories about the explosion that sank ''Struma''. In 1964, a German historian discovered that ''Shch-213'' had fired a

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

, which sank the ship. That was later confirmed from several other Soviet sources. The submarine had been acting under secret orders to sink all neutral and enemy shipping entering the Black Sea to reduce the flow of

strategic material Strategic material is any sort of raw material that is important to an individual's or organization's strategic plan and supply chain management. Lack of supply of strategic materials may leave an organization or government vulnerable to disrup ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. Frantz and Collins call the sinking of ''Struma'' the "largest naval civilian disaster of the war". Greater numbers of civilians perished in other maritime disasters of the war, including ''

Wilhelm Gustloff Wilhelm Gustloff (30 January 1895 – 4 February 1936) was a German politician and meteorologist who founded the Swiss branch of the Nazi Party/Foreign Organization (NSDAP/AO) at Davos in 1932. The NSDAP/AO was formed as the wing of the Nazi Pa ...

'', '' Cap Arcona'' and '' Junyō Maru'', but there were also military personnel aboard those ships at the time. STRUMA memorial in Holon

On 26 January 2005, Israel Prime Minister

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...

, told the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

Wrecks

Struma

In July 2000, a Turkish diving team found a wreck on the sea floor in about the right place and announced that it had found ''Struma''. A team, led by a British technical diver and a grandson of one of the victims, Greg Buxton, later studied that and several other wrecks in the area but could not positively identify any as ''Struma'' since the wreck that had been found by the Turks was far too large. On 3 September 2000, a ceremony was held at the site to commemorate the tragedy. It was attended by 60 relatives of ''Struma'' victims, representatives of the Jewish community of Turkey, the Israeli ambassador and prime minister's envoy and British and American delegates, but David Stoliar chose to not attend for family reasons.

Soviet ''Shch-213'' submarine

In November 2008, a team of Dutch, German and Romanian divers of the Black Sea Wreck Diving Club discovered the wreck of ''Shch-213'' off the coast of Constanța in Romania. Since the registration markings that could have helped to identify the wreck were missing because of damage to the submarine, it took divers until 2010 to identify her as ''Shch-213''.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

* * * * * * (Incomplete list of victims)
MV Struma disaster
on

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

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